Tale of Zinin
by Ivan
Summary: Two chapters in one day! YES!
1. Chapter One: Adoption

I don't own Golden Sun.  
  
Chapter One  
  
A baby lay in his cradle, sleeping, but he didn't notice. The man looked around. Finally, he saw what he was looking for. Though it was dark, he was able to pick out a slightly opened door at the other side of the room. He slowly crept towards it. Quietly opening the door wider, he saw his target: a man and a woman. Soundlessly, he drew his sword and stabbed it through them. First the man, and then the woman. As if he hadn't done anything, the man left carefully.  
  
The next morning, one of the boy's mother's friends came over to see how everything was. She knocked on the door, but got no answer. Again she knocked, this time louder. Finally, she gave up and opened the door. Baby Zinin lay in his cradle, awake, but silent. The lady walked past him and entered the back room. Zinin heard her scream, but didn't pay any attention to it. She rushed out of the room and picked him up. Zinin didn't know what was going on, but he didn't care. The lady breathlessly rushed out with him in her arms. Into the lady's house they went. "Kyle," she said. No answer. "Kyle!" she shouted. The old man slowly emerged from his room. "Kyle," she said again, "They've been murdered!" Kyle gasped. "Who, and what are you doing with baby Zinin?" he asked. "I don't know who did it!" she shouted. "Dora, I was asking who's been murdered," said Kyle, remaining calm. His wife began to scream and he couldn't understand what she was saying. Finally, she calmed down. "It was Zinin's parents!" she said. At this, three-year-old Kalirn walked out of the other room. "Mommy," he said, "Someone killed them." Dora nodded at her son and put her hand in his long, black hair. Kalirn looked at Zinin and laughed. "His hair, it purple!" he exclaimed. Quite truthfully, what little hair was on the small boy's head was purple. Dora said, "It's a sign that he will be a powerful warrior some day." Kalirn laughed, and waved around his stick. "I'll be powerful warrior too!" he shouted and began hitting the wall with the stick. Kyle, who had been silent all this time, finally said, "We'll have to keep him, and bring him up like our own son." Dora nodded and Kalirn began to laugh again. He rushed towards the baby in his mother's hands and began trying to hit him with the stick. Dora lifted Zinin above her head and said, "Now now, Kalirn. You don't have to treat your little brother so rudely." Kalirn repeated, "Brother... brother..."  
  
One year later, Zinin was sitting in his chair at the table, eating quite messily, when he suddenly said, "Mama," At these words, Dora exclaimed, "Kyle! Did you hear that? He just said his first word!" Kalirn laughed. By this time, he was able to talk quite well. "Mother, he just said "Mama." I could talk before his age. I am an extordinary child." He began to grin very happily, but his mother said, "Kalirn, the word is extraordinary, not extordinary, so stop bragging. Nobody likes bragging children." At this the boy began to beat the table with his fists. Suddenly, his mother's class broke, and water spilled all over the table. "Kalirn! Look what you've done now!" she exclaimed. Kalirn tried to cover up a giggle, but failed. He stopped pounding on the table, however. A few seconds later, his father's glass broke. Water spilled all over the table and Kalirn began to giggle some more. Kyle said, "How did that happen? He stopped pounding on the table already." At this, Kalirn began giggling to himself some more. His mother grabbed a towel and began to soak up the water while Kyle carefully discarded the broken peices of glass. As soon as they were both seated again, Kalirn's glass fell over towards Dora. She got soaked, but Kalirn remained dry. "What is going on?" asked Kyle, upset. "Ma-ic!" exclaimed Kalirn, who appeared to be fully enjoying himself. His mother corrected him, "I believe you mean magic," she said. Kalirn happily nodded. "Magic!" said Zinin, quite clearly.  
  
Zinin crawled across the floor to where his father sat reading. "Magic!" he shouted. Kyle nearly dropped the book. He hadn't seen Zinin approaching, and to suddenly hear him shouting in his ear frightened him. "Hello, Zinin," Kyle greeted. "Magic!" replied the boy. Kyle laughed, and returned to his book. Zinin crawled off to find his mother. "Mama," he said, "mama mama mama mama!" The boy seemed quite pleased with his ability to talk. Dora picked him up and set him on his feet. "It's time you learned to walk," she said. She held him up carefully, and moved one foot forwards. "Walk," she said. "Wok," replied Zinin. He put his other foot forwards and nearly fell backwards. His mother caught him. "Good try," she said, "Now try again." He put his other foot forwards and then his other. Suddenly, he was running across the room. After about ten steps, he fell to the ground. He happily stood back up and said, "Wok!"  
  
The next year, Zinin could somewhat talk and had become and expert at walking. He was extremely energetic and liked to run. He had learned his brother's name, and many other names. Kalirn walked into the same room that he was in, and looked around. Neither of his parents were there, so he took advantage of the time. He walked over to his little brother, and slammed his fist into him as hard as he could. Zinin began to cry and hit him back. Kalirn ran off crying to his mother. "Zinin hit me! Zinin hit me!" he shouted. His mother came running. When she saw Zinin sitting on the floor crying, she said, "Kalirn, what did you do to Zinin to make him punch you?" Kalirn lied. "Nothing! He just punched me for no reason! Mommy, it's not fair can you punish him?" Dora walked over to Zinin and scooped him up. "Did he do something to you?" Zinin replied, "He hit me and I hit him back! He made it up that he didn't do anything. Well he did he hit me and it hurt!" He stopped talking and started crying. "Kalirn, you had better start making up better excuses or start telling the truth," said Dora. The boy stomped into another room. "Daddy," he said, "Mommy yelled at me!" Kyle was busy reading and didn't pay any attention to what he was saying, but to make him go away, he replied, "That's great, Kalirn." His son stomped his foot and shouted, "It's not great! I'm sick of getting yelled at!" Kyle turned to see what his son was talking about, but he had left.  
  
Over the next year, Zinin and Kalirn both got much stronger. Kyle was an extremely strong hand-to-hand fighter, not to mention fair skill with a sword. He was determined that both his son and his adopted son would be strong too. He made them do pushups, situps, pullups, curls, and so forth. Kalirn took to it more naturally, but Zinin seemed unable to muster enough strength to push himself up more than ten times in a row. His situps however were quite different. He easily beat his brother by atleast fifteen pushups at a time. This only made Kalirn more angry at his brother. Ever since he had first come along, Kalirn had been angry. He wanted undivided attention from his parents, and he wasn't going to let his adopted brother get in the way. If Zinin was more physically fit than he, his own chances of being the favorite of his parents dropped even lower. Already it seemed to him that Zinin got far more attention than he. Kyle had a metal bar attached between his house and his neighbor's house, which his children used for pullups. In this category, both brothers did quite well. Kalirn averaged eight pullups at a time, whereas Zinin could only do six. This made Kalirn a little happier, but not much. His brother was in the way.  
  
After about a month of training, Kyle began to teach Kalirn how to fight with a sword. He handed Kalirn a sword, who immediately grabbed it and became tense. "Loosen up, or you'll get worn out too soon," his father instructed him. Zinin watched sadly as his brother learned to swordfight. He figured it would be a while before he was able to. "Father," he said. Kalirn and Kyle turned to him. Zinin continued, "Can I learn to fight?" he asked. Kalirn felt a bit of fear that his brother would be better than he, but it died when his father replied, "Maybe next month, Zinin, keep working out." Zinin sighed and walked slowly back towards the pullup bar. Suddenly, an idea came to him. He rushed back to watch the training lesson, hoping to pick up as many pointers as he could. He would teach himself to fight, and he would be better than his brother.  
  
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I hope you like this story better than my other one. I'm hoping to make it much better. REVIEW! In your review, guess what adept types each boy is. (Don't worry, I didn't make up any, just the normal, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury.) Oh yeah, and I'm not going to post chapter two until I get five reviews! See ya in the next chapter! 


	2. Chapter Two: Brotherly Love

I don't own Golden Sun.  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Zinin quietly pulled a sword off the sword rack. It felt quite heavy in his little hands. He put it back. 'Perhaps a smaller one would be slightly better,' he thought. He looked for the smallest one and pulled it out. 'Perfect,' he thought. He carried it out into the yard. The full moon lit the sky quite brightly, and Zinin looked at all of the stars. 'I wonder what all of the little specks are?' he thought, 'Oh well, no point in wasting time. I ought to try to figure out how to use this thing before it's too late.' He heaved the sword into the air and began to wave it around. It suddenly seemed less perfect than it had earlier. The weight of it nearly pulled him over when he swung. He waved it around and tried to ignore the weight. Suddenly, he hit a tree. It put a dent into the bark and slightly into the wood itself. "Oops," he said outloud. Then, realizing that he had said that outloud, he said, "Oops," again at his mistake. His groaned to himself and began to wave it around some more. Soon, he was having so much fun waving it around that he didn't notice the sun beginning to come up. He had gotten up at about four o' clock, and that had been atleast an hour. He quickly rushed the sword back to it's place and ran inside to bed. He lay there, unable to get back to sleep until it was time to get up.  
  
The small village where Zinin lived was named Kolima. He never knew what it meant, but it sounded kind of musical. Nobody had told him the name, but he had figured it out from listening to his father talking to his friends from around the village. It was apparently one of the smaller cities on the continent, but Zinin didn't know what that meant. Being, as he was, only four years old, he couldn't be expected to know much.  
  
Zinin trained with the sword each morning before anyone else got up. By the next month, he was quite good at it. He was filled with joy when he heard Kyle ask, "Would you like me to teach you to fight with a sword, Zinin?" He quickly agreed, and they began training. "Wow, Zinin, it almost seems as though you had done this before," complemented Kyle as he practiced against him. Zinin laughed to himself at this complement but said nothing. He easily parried his father's next attack and then tried to kick him. Kyle hopped backwards easily, and thrust his sword forward. His son jumped to the side and tried again to kick him. This time, he suceeded and his foot slammed against his father's leg. Kyle gasped in pain and sheathed his sword. "Good job, Zinin," he said, "you're almost as good at Kalirn, and you've just started." Kalirn didn't know that Zinin had been practicing at night, so this made him mad. He wanted more than anything else to be better and more powerful than his brother. He wanted to be to be well liked. Althought Zinin didn't know that he had been adopted, Kalirn did. This was the only reason that he disliked him. Had he not been adopted, or he hadn't know that he was adopted, Kalirn might have actually liked Zinin.  
  
One day, Kyle decided to have a little swordfight between Zinin and Kalirn. The older boy grinned to himself, and thought, 'Now's my chance to hurt him. Maybe not kill him, but hurt him.' Kyle had given both brothers their own swords and sheaths to call their own. Kalirn drew his sword and eyed his brother carefully. Zinin did the same, and they both watched each other, waiting for the other to attack first. Finally, Zinin sprang forwards, aiming at Kalirn's head. The older boy barely managed to dodge, and a bit of his dark hair fell to the ground. Zinin grinned at the lopsided state of his brother's hair, and then continued to fight. Kalirn leapt at, determined to leave his hair in a similar way, but Zinin was too quick. He put his sword up to block. The two swords smashed together with a loud noise, but neither was hurt. Again Kalirn went on the offensive, this time faking an attack on his brother's leg, and then going for the head. Zinin wasn't fooled, and was able to dodge the attack. Before Kalirn could recover, Zinin cut a little more from his hair. This made Kalirn even more angry, because he prized his hair greatly. He knew that Zinin prized his hair likewise, and the fact that he was losing his own, and his brother kept his, inspired him to try harder. He lunged forwards and managed to cut off about a centimeter. This may not seem like much, but it was enough to put Zinin into a rage. He began to slash wildly until Kyle finally stopped them. "That's enough," he said, "you both fought quite well, and I'm very proud. We may have to cut off a little of your hair to make it be even, though." Kalirn grumbled, but agreed. He walked next to his father, who cut it more evenly. Zinin then walked over and got his hair cut slightly too.  
  
Zinin reached his hand up to feel his hair. It was much shorter now; barely past his ears. This annoyed him, but just thinking about his brother's hair, which was now even shorter, made him a bit happier.  
  
Later that night, after Zinin had gone to bed, he heard his parents talking quietly in the other room. Kyle said, "I think Kalirn dislikes Zinin." His wife replied, "I don't think so, it just comes across that way." He heard his father sigh. "No," he replied, "He would do anything to hurt him. I think it's because he isn't his brother. He wants all of our attention." Zinin didn't know until this time that he had been adopted. His mother was speaking again. "Do you think we should tell him?" Zinin began to cry. He rushed out to his parents and grabbed his father's leg. "I'm not your son?" he asked. Kyle shook his head, sadly. "Your real parents were murdered when you were very little. We were good friends with them, and so we kept you. Kalirn was three years old then, so he remembers it." Zinin began to cry harder and rushed back to bed. His mother walked into the room and tried to comfort him, but he dug his face into the pillow and ignored her.  
  
The next morning, Zinin got up to see Kalirn standing over his bed. His normally spiteful and arrogant brother was looking sad. He slowly said, "Zinin... I'm sorry for treating you unfairly. You may have been adopted, but I ought to love you like a brother. After all, you're the closest thing I have to a brother." Zinin replied, "I forgive you," as he had been tought by his parents.  
  
Zinin fought Kalirn almost every day, but they never went for the other's head. They had both lost too much hair already, and feared attacking the other's hair would result in the loss of their own. Both children were quite talented with the sword, and their father said that they showed great potential. Kalirn no longer made rude remarks, but tried to compliment his younger brother as much as possible. Kyle would often sit watching them fight for hours. He told his wife that watching them was extremely entertaining, because they were both so good for their age, yet they were also quite small, and would sometimes make funny mistakes.  
  
One day, Kalirn asked Zinin, "Did you know that I have special powers?" Zinin shook his head, and Kalirn arrogantly went on, "I have special powers, which are extremely powerful. I've never told anybody but you. Someday, I'm going to use these special powers and be the most powerful person ever!" Zinin shrugged, and went away, not thinking anything of it. However, the next time that they fought, Zinin realized that it was quite a serious matter. Kyle was inside, reading, and not paying any attention to the fight. Kalirn said to Zinin, "Stab your sword through my arm." Zinin refused. "I could never hurt my brother," he said. Kalirn sighed, and cut his arm with his own sword. "Now watch," he said, wiping up the crimson blood. When he moved his hand, the wound was closed. He laughed, but Zinin thought he had done some sort of trick. "You didn't actually heal it," he said, "It's still there." Kalirn shrugged, and said, "If you aren't convinced, watch this!" He raised his hand into the air and a nearby rock moved several inches into the ground, and then fell back down. Kalirn grinned at his younger brother. Zinin stared at the rock, and then at his brother. He said, "H-how did you do that?" Kalirn giggled, and replied, "I told you, I have special powers! Now don't tell anybody about this, because I want to keep it a secret. If it leaks out, everyone will want to see my powers, and I don't want them to. Besides, when I'm the most powerful warrior ever, and nobody knows I can do that, I'll be able to beat them up when I fight!" Kalirn began jumping up and down hugging himself. Zinin shook his head and asked himself, 'How does he do that? First I learn he's not my brother, and then I learn he's got special powers. How could this world get any weirder?'  
  
Zinin thrust his sword at his brother, who easily blocked. Kalirn laughed. "Wathc this!" he said. Suddenly, he began to disappear, and an assortment of colorful lights replaced him. Zinin turned to see him standing at the door to the house. Zinin shrugged, and continued to fight. He fought hard, but in the end, Kalirn forced him to give up. "See?" he bragged, "I'm strong! Some day I'm going to be the most powerful-" Zinin cut him off. "You've said that already!" he shouted. Kalirn laughed. "Oh, you're right, I have!" he said happily. Zinin wished that he had special powers like his brother. If only he could somehow get them...  
  
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How was that? Keep reviewing, I need ten for chapter three! 


	3. Chapter Three: Collosso

I don't own Golden Sun.  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Kalirn gradually got more and more powerful, but Zinin barely improved. His father always described him as acting distracted. This was exactly what he was. He was wishing that he had the same power or even greater power than Kalirn. His brother's psynergy, as he had come to call it, got stronger and stronger. Zinin had no special abilities. His brother would make fun of him more often now that his power had grown. He had discovered a new attack, which he called quake. When used, the earth would begin to ripple, sending anyone standing within a short range flying several feet into the air. It didn't hurt majorly, but Zinin got tired of it extremely fast. By this time, Kalirn was seven years old. His father said that at the age of seven, he could begin competing in tournaments. However, the biggest tournament, called Collosso, required that the warrior be atleast nine. Zinin and Kalirn both looked forward to when they turned nine. Poor Zinin knew that Kalirn would be able to participate two years before he would. If he won, it would make him brag. Kalirn had several friends around the city, but none of them were nearly as strong as either he or Zinin. The younger boy got some pleasure out of beating kids two years older than he in arm-wrestling competitions, but he wanted to beat Kalirn.  
  
One day, a strange thing happened. While Zinin was walking alone through the town, he suddenly caught sight of a little, red ball lying on the grass. He walked up to it, and looked at it closely. Suddenly, he realized that it was moving. It appeared to be an animal of some sort. It had large eyes, and was about eight inches tall. To Zinin's amazement, it began to talk to him. "H-h-hello," it moaned. Zinin jumped in fright. Then, he realized that the red furball he was holding was talking to him. "Um, hello," he replied, uncertain. "Your finding me was lucky, both for me and for you," said the furball, "My name is Deimos. I am what they call a djinn." Zinin didn't see how it was lucky for him to have found a talking red furball, but to be polite, he said, "Hello Deimos, my name is Zinin. What does a djinn do?" The furball began to moan again, and didn't reply. Finally, it managed to squeak, "Food, I... need food." Zinin rushed him inside and grabbed an apple. He drew his sword and carefully sliced it up. Each slice he broke into djinn-sized bites. Deimos happily took the apple, and soon had eaten the whole thing. "More," he said, happily. Zinin got another apple, and cut it up the same way. When Deimos finished eating both apples, he said, "Tell nobody that you found me." Zinin agreed, and decided to take him outside, where they could talk. Once they got out, the djinn said, "Your brother has power, and you wish you had the same power, right?" Zinin nodded, and Deimos continued. "What you don't know, is that there are four elements. The elements are Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind. Your brother clearly has the power of Earth. I think that you have the power of Wind, but that is not clear yet. It could be Water. I have the power of Fire, but I may be able to teach you some Wind and Water powers." Zinin got very excited, but tried to stay calm. "I'll teach you the most basic abilities, and see which you are able to master more easily," finished Deimos. Zinin nodded, and carried him outside of the village to a big field. Once he arrived in the field, Deimos said, "You know, I can walk, and fly. You don't need to carry me everywhere." Zinin appologized, and the djinn began to teach him the basics of psynergy.  
  
Zinin kept his new abilities secret. He didn't even tell Kalirn. Deimos had told him that he was a Wind adept, and said that Wind was probably the strongest power, but that each had their own abilities. Zinin didn't care what type of power he had, he was just happy to have the same sort of power as his brother. He was now able to read minds, and create tiny whirlwinds. Of course, next to anybody but Deimos, he never used the whirlwind. When he got home, Zinin walked up to his father, and read his mind. 'Why is Kalirn doing so much better in his training than Zinin? I thought Zinin seemed quite capable at first. Maybe I was expecting too much,' he read. Zinin laughed to himself, and went to find his mother. 'Oh my, I have to start cooking dinner! It's beginning to get dark!' he read from her mind. He was tempted to say, "Yeah, you'd better get going!" but instead he said nothing. He went to find his brother. Kalirn was doing pullups on the bar beside the house. "Seventeen," he finally said, dropping to the ground. "Hey, Zinin! I did seventeen!" Zinin laughed to himself and leapt at the bar. He caught it and began pulling himself up. Soon, he made it to seventeen, but didn't stop. One more time he pulled himself up. When he landed on the ground, he turned to the astonished Kalirn. "Eighteen," he said, grinning. Kalirn growled and stompted off. Zinin giggled to himself and followed. Once he was close behind him, he cast mind read. 'Argh! Zinin! How did he do that? He's never been able to do more than thirteen before, and suddenly he does eighteen and beats my new record! Argh!' Zinin laughed out loud by accident. Kalirn turned to him and said, "What's so funny?" Zinin shrugged and walked off. Kalirn glared and thought, 'Almost as if he knows what I was thinking!' Out of anger, he slammed a rock from the ground into the door of the house. It left a dent, and he gasped. He slowly walked inside and to his room.  
  
"Deimos," whispered six-year-old Zinin. The little furball had decided to live under his bed. "Psst, Deimos!" he whispered, this time a little louder. Suddenly, he turned around to see Kalirn standing at the door, smirking. "Who are you talking to?" he asked in a superior voice. Zinin shrugged. "Just, nobody," he replied, "I'm playing a little game." Kalirn laughed and walked out the door. Zinin sighed in relief and went back to looking for Deimos. Soon, a red head popped out, followed by a body. Zinin picked him up and put him in his pocket. 'Time to train,' he thought, 'my favorite part of the day.' He grabbed his sword in it's sheath from it's position leaning against the wall, and strapped it onto his belt.  
  
Kalirn was very proud of his earthquaking abilities. His power had grown so much over the year, that he called his new ability Earthquake, instead of just plain old quake. All Zinin had was mind read and whirlwind, which he never showed anybody, and nobody knew about. Kalirn hadn't kept his abilites a secret. He had tried, but it had slipped to some of his friends. His parents still didn't know, but Zinin expected they would soon enough.  
  
Zinin stood in the field, training his abilities. Again and again he cast whirlwind, until he was breathless. He caught up small bushes and threw them. Rather than training a lot with his sword, he practiced his psynergy a lot. He did also, of course, use his sword. After he finished training his psynergy, he would draw his sword and plan several points on a bush to hit. He would then carefully chop off whichever parts he wanted to, and tried to avoid the rest. He planned several targets to hit in a row, the faster the better. Eventually, he was worn out physically and mentally, so he went home. On the way, he met Kalirn. "Where have you been?" his older brother asked. Zinin calmly replied, "Training, and you?" Kalirn nodded. "I've been training too," he said, "I'll soon be extremely powerful. I can't wait for next year to enter Collosso! I'll be famous after that!" Zinin tried to treat his brother nicely, but he sometimes was too arrogant to be treated very nicely easily.  
  
"Wow, Kalirn! That's amazing," said Kyle after Kalirn had finished showing off his psynergy. "Does Zinin have any abilities like that?" asked Dora. Kalirn laughed. "No way," he said, "He's so puny! He could never master such awesome powers as mine!" Dora sighed. "Kalirn, treat your brother with a little respect. He may have been adopted, but you don't have to treat him like an animal." Kalirn groaned. "Yes mother," he replied. Zinin felt like punching him, but didn't.  
  
Zinin slowly trudged back into the city from his day of training. There sat Kalirn on the steps of their house, drinking a glass of water. "Hey Zinin!" he shouted. Zinin groaned. "Yeah?" he replied. Kalirn laughed. "Why do you always train out in the field? What's wrong with this place?" Zinin shrugged. "I guess because it's more peaceful out there. Besides, out there there is plenty of room and I don't have to worry about hitting anyone with my 'poor swordfighting abilities,' as you call them," he replied. Kalirn laughed, and added, "I know, they are pretty sad abilities." Zinin drew his sword, and Kalirn shut up.  
  
Kalirn finally turned nine. His parents arranged to go to Tolbi, the city where Collosso was held. Tolbi was a huge place, they told Zinin and Kalirn. There was a large colloseum there, where warriors from all over the world came to fight. This was called Collosso. Kalirn was extremely excited. He couldn't wait to go. "We get to ride a ship!" he told Zinin excitedly. Zinin hardly cared. He was upset that Kalirn was old enough to enter, but he wasn't. He had told his father that he wanted to enter, and he had said, "Maybe they'll let you in. You're quite talented, and the best swordsman I've ever seen at your age." That was the problem, though. His age.  
  
The wagon was finally leaving for Kalay. "We have to go to Kalay and get on a boat from there," explained Kalirn, as if he knew everything. Zinin already knew this, but he didn't say anything. Kalirn leaned out the back of the wagon and waved to his friends. "Oh boy, I can't wait! I get to enter Collosso!" shouted Kalirn repeatedly, the entire way to Kalay. By the end of the day, Zinin and Kalirn both wished they would arrive at Kalay. Zinin was tired of traveling, and Kalirn couldn't wait to enter the tournament. "Do you think I'll be able to beat everyone, Dad?" he asked. Kyle looked down at his son. His young son was entering Collosso. He didn't think he stood a chance at winning, but to make him happy, he said, "I'm sure you will, Son." Kalirn grinned at Zinin and said, "See? Dad thinks I'm gonna win! I do too!" Zinin laughed to himself. If he got into the tournament, he knew his brother didn't stand a chance. "You'll probably win, Kalirn," he said, and turned back to watch forwards. Within several minutes, Kalay was finally in sight. "Look!" shouted Kalirn, "There it is!" Dora sighed. "Kalirn," she said, "I know you're excited, but can you please stop yelling?" Kalirn started to pout, but said he'd try to stop.  
  
"I hate boats," said Dora. Kyle laughed. "Come on, Dora," he said, "this is going to be fun! Besides, we get to watch our son win in Collosso!" Dora shivered. "That's the part I'm the most worried about. Collosso," she said. Kalirn laughed. "Don't worry, Mom, I'll try not to kill anyone," he said. Kyle laughed. "I don't think that's what your mother is worried about," he said.  
  
"The boat is finally leaving," said Zinin. Kalirn nodded. "Now we get to go to Tolbi, and fight in Collosso! Or atleast, I get to fight in Collosso," he said. Zinin nodded sadly. He wished he could fight in Collosso too. 'Two years,' he told himself, 'just two more years.'  
  
Several hours later, the boat finally landed in Tolbi. Kalirn and Kyle rushed over the boat to go and sign up for Collosso. Zinin slowly followed with his mother. "I wish I could fight too," he said. His mother replied, "Personally, I'm glad you can't. I'm worried sick about Kalirn, and I would be even more worried about you." Zinin sighed, and headed towards the city. When they finally arrived, Kalirn rushed up to them and said, "I already signed up. There are no more spots left for you, Zinin. Sorry!" He rushed off, and Zinin didn't think he was a bit sorry. He knew that winning Collosso would be easier without him in the way.  
  
After several days, Collosso was finally starting. Kalirn stood in the hall, waiting for the battle to begin. He looked over the other competitors. There were seven men with huge bulging muscles. One of looked over to him and laughed. "You don't stand a chance, kid," he said. Kalirn grinned to himself. 'We'll see about that.' Then, a man came and told everyone to get ready. The man known to be strongest would fight the second strongest, and the third fight the fourth, and so on. Kalirn was eighth, and for that he was thankful. Finally, the man who had come and said to get ready led the first place warrior down the hall to Kalirn's left. Several minutes later, he returned and led the second place warrior to the right. Collosso was about to begin.  
  
After a while, the two contestants returned, scratched up and worn out. They both left the colloseum. Two more men were taken away, and then two more after that. Finally, it came time for Kalirn's match. He was led down a long hallway, which eventually turned. From there, he entered the important part of the colloseum. He found himself in a room with sand on the ground. His weapons had been taken from him and left by the exit. They were well guarded, though. He looked around. Nearby, he saw a pool of water with a long in it. "This'll be easy," he said aloud. He ran towards the water and jumped as far as he could, landing about half way across. He then swam to the other side and pulled himself out. "I wonder what that log was meant for," he said. Shrugging, he continued to the next obstacle. This was a wall of vines. He climbed up one of them, and then to another one which was beside that. The vines were extremely thick, and could easily hold a full grown man. However they were flexible too. Kalirn began to swing back in forth, and jumped. He barely landed on the platform on the other side. "That was easy," he said, and ran to the next obstacle. It was a maze. The walls were about eight feet high, but Kalirn didn't feel like going through the maze. He cast earthquake and flew over the wall. He looked forwards, and could see the platform to fight on up ahead. "Only one more obstacle," he said, grinning. He walked to the next thing. A bunch of platforms stood in front of him. He had to jump from one to the next. This would be easy. He leapt over to the first one easily. He jumped again, landing on the second. There were three more platforms, each a little bit bigger. He cast earthquake, and soared over the remaining gaps. He heard a whistle from the croud. He grinned to himself and ran to the fighting platform. Sitting on the platform were two swords. One was slightly bigger, but the other was sharper. He grabbed the sharper one and waited for his opponent.  
  
The other man came soon enough, and walked over to the remaining sword. He picked it up, and grunted. "Hey kid," he said, "I don't know how you got here before me, but I can tell you that you won't survive this day." Kalirn laughed, and thrust his sword forward. The man dodged to the side, and slashed at his chest. Kalirn easily pushed it away with his psynergy. "W-what?" asked the surprised man. "How did you do that?" Kalirn laughed and stabbed his sword towards the man, who dodged again. This continued for several minutes, until Kalirn got bored. "Bye," he said, smiling. The other man replied, "I'm only getting warmed up! I'm not done for yet," Kalirn shrugged. "Perhaps you are," he replied, still smiling. He pointed his hand at the ground and said, "Earthquake!" The man flew through the air, and landed a ways off. "There's something strange going on or I'm dreaming," the dazed man said. Kalirn laughed and cast earthquake again.  
  
The next day, it was time for the second round. Kalirn realized that he was going to fight the man who had been in fifth place the day before. He proudly stated that he was now in third place, and couldn't wait to finish off Kalirn. The boy laughed, and said, "We'll see about that. After all, I beat that other man." The man he was going to fight said, "Ha! I could have beaten that man with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back." Kalirn laughed. "I guess you're just too powerful for me then," he replied. Then, the man came to lead away the first place man and the fourth place man. Apparently, the guy who was in fourth had beaten his opponent. A while later, a sad looking fourth-place man emerged, and another man, looking quite triumphant followed. Kalirn giggled and waited to be led to his tournament. Soon, the man led his opponent away, and had returned. Kalirn walked quickly down the hallway behind him, and soon arrived at the first obstacle. Before Kalirn entered, the man who had been leading him said, "I'm really quite surprised you made it this far. Most of our younger people don't even win the first round. If you won this round, it would be a first. The last nine year old we had to make it to the second round is probably grown up by now." Kalirn grinned, and entered Collosso.  
  
The second set of obstacles wasn't much harder than the first set, but Kalirn's opponent beat him to the battlefield. Kalirn picked up the little, dull sword and prepared to fight. He grinned at his opponent, who said, "You won't be grinning for much longer," and as he said longer, he lunged at him. Kalirn laughed, and several peices of thin rock fell down from above. Zinin, who was in the audience sitting with his mother and father, said, "I've never seen him use that move before, must be something new." Kalirn's opponent put up his sword and managed to knock the bits of rock aside. Kalirn frowned, but sent down more rocks. This time, one of them hit his opponent on his arm. This didn't seem to annoy him much, as it hadn't been his dominant arm. Kalirn cast earthquake, and the man flew back. He quickly stood up, and stabbed his sword into Kalirn's leg. In the audience, Dora screamed. Kalirn laughed, and healed his leg. "Wow, you're amazing," his opponent said, "I've never seen anybody who could do the same things as you. It's like... magic." Kalirn laughed, and fought harder. He vigorously went on the offensive, and soon both contestants were worn out. "G-give up?" asked Kalirn, panting heavily. His opponent shook his head. "Not over yet," he replied. The boy sighed and attacked again. The man dodged, but Kalirn quickly moved his sword over and hit him. Finally, the man said, "I give up." Kalirn smirked, and thought, 'Only one more contestant to go. I'm really doing quite well.'  
  
It was the last day of Collosso. Kalirn's only remaining contestant was a tough looking black-haired man. Kalirn grabbed some of his own hair and began to twist it, while he waited. Eventually, it was time to start the fight. Kalirn's contestant grinned and him and said, "Best of luck to you," and walked away. Kalirn laughed, knowing that he would win. Nobody could match his psynergetic power.  
  
Half an hour later, Kalirn found himself sitting and holding a sharp sword. He waited several minutes for his opponent to arrive. Soon, the tall strong man appeared and picked up the other sword. Kalirn stood up, and asked, "Are you ready?" The man nodded. "Ready when you are," he replied. Kalirn nodded, and attacked. He tried to bring his sword down on his opponent's head, but he blocked with his sword. Kalirn was pushed away by his amazing strength. "You're quite strong," he said. His opponent shrugged, and replied, "And you are quite talented. Let's see what else you have." He leapt forward, and tried to hit Kalirn in the leg. The boy laughed, and ducked under the blow, while swinging his own sword toward his opponent's feet. The man jumped, bringing his sword down. Kalirn barely had time to block before the blade caused him a serious injury. He cast earthquake. The man lost his balance, but managed to regain his footing before falling over. "You must be strong, to withstand that," said Kalirn, frowning slightly. He grinned and said, "Let's see how well you do against this." Large spires of rock fell from the air and flew towards the man. He leapt backwards, but several small bits cut his arms, legs, and a little of his chest. He appeared to be hurt, but didn't stop fighting. Kalirn frowned. "I'm running out of ideas," he said. He stabbed his sword at the man, and rained down more spires at the same time. Several of the spires hit Kalirn's opponent, and he fell down. Kalirn healed his wounds, and said, "I win."  
  
"You can choose a reward. We have this sword, but it may be a bit too big for you. Over here we have a smaller version of the same sword. It's mostly just decorative, but it's sturdy too. We also offer ten thousand coins, or a nice Tolbi house. The house comes along with one thousand coins. You also have the option of a staff, but you don't seem to be the type to use one." Kalirn looked over the choices. He finally said, "I'll take the money." The man smiled, and handed him a large bag. Kalirn took it, but it was quite heavy. He grinned, and carried it to his father. "Here, dad. Ten thousand coins." His father gasped and took the money. "Dora!" he shouted. His wife ran over. "Look at this, it's ten thousand coins!" he said excitedly. Kalirn grinned at Zinin, who didn't appear to have had any fun the entire time. Zinin sighed. 'Just two more years, and I'll show him whose who around here,' he thought. This was a comforting thought, but meanwhile he would have to listen to Kalirn's bragging.  
  
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Fifteen reviews for the next chapter! I hope you like this story. So far I think it's going much better than the last one. Oh well, REVIEW! 


	4. Chapter Four: Discovery

I don't own Golden Sun  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Zinin was annoyed. His brother had already bragged to all of his friends, right in front of Zinin. He then said that his 'poor little brother' couldn't enter Collosso, because he was too wimpy. 'I'll show him,' thought Zinin. He watched his brother easily beat all of his friends in an arm wrestling competition. Then, an idea came to him. He said, "Kalirn, if you are so strong, let me arm wrestle you. If I win, you stop bragging, and you give me your dessert. If I lose, then you can brag all that you want and I'll give you my dessert tonight." Kalirn grinned. Cherry pie, his favorite dessert. He immediately agreed. Zinin grinned and sat down across the stump which they always used from his brother. He reached out his hand and grabbed his brother. Then, he cast mind read. 'I love cherry pie. After a beat Zinin, I'll get double! This is going to be so easy.' Zinin laughed quietly, and began to cough to cover it up. "Ready, go!" shouted one of the kids watching. Zinin held his hand in position, but didn't push his brother down. However his brother didn't push his hand down either. After several seconds of silence, Zinin asked, "What? I thought you were so strong, but you can't even push down your little brother's arm. Hah!" Kalirn snickered, and replied, "I'm not even trying. See, watch this!" He pushed harder, and Zinin did too. Neither moved their arms, except a little bit of back and forth. Finally, Kalirn put his entire strength into it, and Zinin began to go down. However, when he had nearly lost, he made a comeback. Kalirn laughed nervously. Zinin made no sound, but pushed harder. Suddenly, Kalirn's hand collapsed. "It was a tie," he said, "we have to start over now." Zinin glared at his brother. "I won fairly!" he said. "No you didn't," shouted his brother, "Mom!" After a little bit, Dora walked out to see what was going on. Both boys began talking at once. "I beat him and he says we have to start over," shouted Zinin. "Mom, we were arm-wrestling and I decided to start over and he says I cheated!" interupted Kalirn. Their mother stopped them. "Boys," she said, "I can only listen to one of you at the same time. Zinin. You tell me what happened." The younger boy replied, "Well, Kalirn was bragging so arrogantly about his winning Collosso-" Kalirn interupted, "Was not!" but his mother glared at him, so he shut up. "Anyway," continued Zinin, "I got sick of hearing him brag, so I told him that I'd arm-wrestle with him. We decided that the winner got the other's dessert, and that he could keep bragging if he won, but he had to stop if I won. So we started, and I won, but he says that he decided to quit and lost on purpose." Dora nodded. "Kalirn, what's your side of the story," she asked. Her older son replied, "Well, we agreed to arm-wrestle like he said. So we started to arm-wrestle, and I wasn't trying, and he wasn't trying. We each eventually tried harder, until I nearly had him. Then I decided to start over, so I stopped pushing. Zinin pushed my hand down, and claimed that he had won." Dora sighed. "One of you isn't telling the truth, but I'm more inclined to believe that Zinin won. You two aren't supposed to be betting, but Kalirn, I have noticed that you have been bragging a lot lately, so Zinin will get your dessert anyway." Kalirn stompted his foot on the ground, and Zinin grinned at him.  
  
Kalirn looked at his sleeping brother. This was almost too easy. He raised his foot into the air and brought it down. He grinned, and headed back to bed.  
  
The next morning, Kalirn woke up and heard voices. His mother was saying, "How could it have happened? I don't think Kalirn would do that. He doesn't much like him, but to kill him? Maybe he just choked on something." Kalirn gasped. He hadn't meant to kill his brother, only to hurt him. He climbed out of bed and walked into the next room. His mother and father sat next to Zinin. He wasn't breathing. Kyle picked up the body. It was still warm, but he wasn't breathing. Suddenly, a cough was heard. It was followed by several more coughs, and then reddish-pink goo flew out of Zinin's mouth. The young boy began to breath heavily. He said, "I had a strange dream. Somebody came into my room and kicked me, and then I started choking." He looked around, and realized that there was throwup on the floor. "Maybe it wasn't a dream," he said. His father set him down on the floor. Zinin looked around. "I'm going to go train," he said, "so if anyone wants me, I'll be out in the field over there," he pointed his hand towards the field where he always trained. He smiled, and left the room.  
  
Zinin watched his whirlwind rip apart a bush. He smiled. "Kalirn could never master such an awesome power as I have," he said, mockingly. He drew his sword, and butchered another bush. Suddenly, Deimos appeared flying in front of him. Zinin laughed. "You scared me," he said. Deimos shook his head. "Kalirn!" he exclaimed. The djinn disappeared, and Zinin turned. His brother stood a ways off. "Hello," he said. Zinin replied, "Hi, is there something you want?" Kalirn shrugged. "Just wondering where that whirlwind came from," he replied. 'Rats,' thought Zinin, 'he knows.' Kalirn walked a little bit closer. "Zinin, do you have psynergy that you haven't told anyone about?" Zinin shrugged. "Wind storm," he replied. Kalirn laughed. "Wind storm, huh?" he replied, "How come it seems so peacefull now?" Zinin shrugged. "I guess it passed over us," he replied. 'He's not buying it,' thought Zinin. Kalirn shook his head. "I don't believe you," he replied. Zinin sighed. "Don't tell anybody. If you tell anyone, I'll stick my sword through your brain and whoever's brain you tell. You didn't know it, but I'm a lot stronger than you." Kalirn nervously began stepping backwards. That was the last thing he wanted; for his brother to have psynergy. 'Well, I guess I'll just have to take care of that,' he thought. Zinin hadn't read his mind.  
  
Over the next few days, Zinin discovered a new technique. He called it plasma, and used it all the time. When he used plasma, a lightning bolt would come down and strike a certain area. It was quite powerful, and Kalirn didn't know about it. 'The more attacks that I get that Kalirn doesn't know about, the better,' he thought. He continued practicing every day, until his father said that he wanted both Kalirn and him to enter a martial arts tournament for kids. He demonstrated several different kicks and punches, and wished them luck. It was a small tournament. Only two other kids were entering besides them. It was held in Kolima, and therefore all four of the kids knew each other. One boy was fighting Kalirn. This was a frightening thought to him, although he was actually several years older. The other boy was eleven, and the thought of fighting a seven-year-old made him laugh. He thought for sure that he would win. As it was, Kalirn threw several kicks and punches and then his opponent gave up. Zinin's opponent, however, wasn't about to give up. He watched Zinin carefully, and finally threw a well-aimed punch at his stomach. Zinin was hit so hard that he did a backflip and bit his tongue. He opened his mouth and spit out a wad of blood, and then jumped into the air, kicking his opponent. The older boy was hit in the arm, and laughed at the weak attack. He punched Zinin again, this time on his left arm. The younger boy muttered, and threw one of his hardest punches into his opponent's chest. The other boy was surprised at the strength of such a little boy. He had never seen Zinin fight before, only heard from Kalirn. "You're better than your brother would admit," he said. Zinin thanked him, and aimed a kick at his leg. It hit on the knee, and the other boy fell down. Zinin took advantage of this time and kneed him in the stomach. "You don't have to give up," Zinin said. He remembered that the man who was holding the contest had said to fight until you give up or go unconcious. Zinin's opponent, unfortunately wanted to fight until he won or went unconious. He stood up and punched Zinin on the right arm. Zinin muttered and slammed his foot into the other boy. Finally, his opponent gave up. Zinin went to find his brother.  
  
When Zinin found his brother, he was sitting under a tree by himself. "Kalirn," he said. His brother looked up. "Yeah?" he asked. Zinin continued, "If you don't use any psynergy, I won't either. Fair enough?" Kalirn nodded slowly.  
  
Kalirn watched Zinin carefully. His younger brother seemed to be waiting for him to make the first move. "Kalirn," he said, "you get to attack first." Kalirn laughed and followed his command. He ran forward and tried to slam his fist into Zinin. His younger brother reached his hand up and grabbed his brother's fist. He then sent his other hand in in an attempt to win the battle quickly. His brother's hand shot out and grabbed it before it could get in. Then, Zinin let go of his brother's fist and before he could react, slammed his own fist into his brother's stomach. Kalirn gasped for breath and then kicked one of Zinin's legs out from under him. The boy tried to stand up, but his brother was holding him down by the arm. He reached up with his other hand and managed to wrench free. He lept to his feet, and kicked Kalirn in the face. A trickle of blood ran down from his brother's nose, and Zinin punched him in the stomach. The older boy fell down, but managed to get back up. Zinin knocked him down with his elbow, and this time Kalirn didn't get back up.  
  
"I won a thousand coins!" exclaimed Zinin. His father smiled at him. "I never would have guessed that you could beat Kalirn. Maybe next year they'll let you into Collosso even though you'll only be eight. Or else maybe he wasn't trying his hardest," he said. Zinin grinned.  
  
Kalirn was sitting under his favorite tree with his back to Zinin. "Kalirn," said Zinin. His brother turned to him. "What do you want?" he asked in an annoyed voice. "I thought maybe we could be friends. After all, we are both quite powerful, and if we were on the same team, we would be unstoppable!" Kalirn shrugged, stood up, and walked away.  
  
Zinin stepped into the shop. The blacksmith looked up and smiled. "Hello, Zinin," he said, "I heard that you won the tournament. Congratulations!" The blacksmith had always been a good friend of Zinin's. The boy smiled at the man sitting on the floor. He was holding a sword and sharpening it. "Is there something I can do for you?" the man asked. Zinin nodded. "I want to buy something... but I don't know what. What all do you have?" he asked. The man gestured to a rack which was lined with swords. Below that rack were shields, and below that helmets. On the top rack were a couple sets of chainmail. Zinin looked over the items, and finally picked up a sword. He swung it around a couple of times, and asked, "How much is this one?" The blacksmith looked up. "That one is three hundred and fifty coins," he replied. Zinin nodded. "I'll take it," he said. He turned back to the shelf. He picked up a helmet. Too big. Zinin suddenly saw a helmet that looked perfect. He picked it up, and tried it on. "How much is this helmet?" he asked. "Two hundred coins even," the man replied. Zinin turned back to the shelf, and picked up a small set of chainmail. "And this is?" he questioned. The blacksmith sighed. "That's five hundred," he said. Zinin sighed. "I've only got four hundred and fifty coins left," he said, beginning to pay for the sword and helmet. The blacksmith stopped him. "It's yours for four hundred and fifty coins, since you're my friend." Zinin smiled and dumped his money onto the counter. "Thanks," he said, walking out of the shop.  
  
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Ok: Zinin is a level eight Jupiter adept, and Kalirn is a level nine Venus adept, assuming you hadn't figured that out already :)  
  
Anyway, REVIEW! I need... 20 reviews for chapter 5! REVIEW! 


	5. Chapter Five: Eradication

I don't own Golden Sun.  
  
Chapter Five  
  
"A son? What do you mean? How could he have a son! You were supposed to kill everyone in the house!" The man quivered. "I'm s-sorry, Master! I thought I had killed all of them!" A dark, cloaked figure stood eying the man who had failed his job. For several minutes he stood there, and finally he put one arm into the air. The man standing in front of him immediately burnt to ashes, and the dark figure ran down the hall.  
  
Zinin showed his new sword and armor to his father. Kyle nodded and said, "Those are nice, Zinin," and returned to his book. The boy muttered. It seemed as though his father never paid any attention to him. He would only smile to try to be nice, but it annoyed Zinin.  
  
"Prepare my horse!" shouted the cloaked figure. A young boy replied, "Master Xulkar, I just fed the horses and put them in their stables for the night. They may be asleep already." Xulkar stomped his foot, and the boy rushed off. Several minutes later, he returned with a large black horse. Xulkar lept onto his horse and rode off into the night.  
  
Zinin lay in bed, thinking about different things. He thought about his parents, his psynergy, his brother's psynergy, and many other things. Although it was late, he couldn't get to sleep. He was exhausted from the day's work, which almost made it worse. He wasn't sleepy, but since he was tired and couldn't sleep, it made him grumpy. Finally, he climbed out of bed and went to the kitchen to get some food. There was no fire, but a little soup remained from their supper. Zinin got a wooden bowl and scooped himself some soup. It was some sort of bean and vegetable soup. The boy didn't like vegetables very much, but he took some anyway. 'Perhaps I'm just hungry,' he thought. He quickly ate the soup and walked back towards his bed.  
  
Xulkar rode through the town. Nobody appeared to be awake, which was to his advantage. He looked around. Which house was the boy he came to murder living in? He decided on a house, and forced the lock open. Inside was completely dark, except for a candle. Xulkar gasped. There was a boy holding the candle. He had long violet hair, hanging almost to his waist. This was obviously the boy he was after. Xulkar drew his sword and approached the boy. He knew the boy had seen him, as he drew his own sword. "What do you want?" the boy asked. Xulkar replied, "I am Xulkar. Your father was a great friend of mine, until he opposed me. I decided to take over the world, but your father tried to stop me. For that reason, I had him killed. My pitiful assassin didn't bother to search the house for other survivors, and so he left you alive. I'll not hurt you if you will join me. Nor will I hurt you if you won't. I'll hurt something or someone you love." The boy replied, "My name is Zinin. Why would I join someone who murdered both of my parents? Had you let them fight you fairly, it wouldn't be so bad. I have heard from my adopted parents that at night my parents were alive, and in the morning they were dead. You killed them when they were sleeping. You... slime..." The boy was in tears. Xulkar laughed. "Soon, you'll have no parents," he said. With an evil grin, he practically floated across the floor into Zinin's parents room. The boy rushed after him, but it was too late. They were already burning. "You..." repeated Zinin over and over again. Xulkar laughed. "Yes, it's me. I think I'll burn your entire city while I'm at it." Zinin gasped. "Kalirn!" he called. His brother was already awake. Holding his sword, he rushed out to see his brother facing an evil-looking man. He charged towards him, but before he could attack, he was thrown backwards. Zinin tried also, but was thrown into the wall. Xulkar cackled, and walked out of the house.  
  
Zinin looked around. 'Was it just a dream?' he asked himself. Then, he saw Kalirn lying nearby, his sword next to him. He quickly stood up and rushed into his parents room. They were dead. The boy started crying, which roused his brother. "Kalirn," he said, "they're dead!" Kalirn rushed into the room. There were his parents, dead. He rushed over to where the bag of money was kept. There were only about six thousand coins left, but it was better than nothing. He grabbed his brother's arm, and they rushed out the door. A terrible thing met there eyes: the city was burning. "No," said Zinin. "It can't be!" he shouted. He looked around, but Xulkar was nowhere around. Kalirn asked, "Who was that man?" His younger brother sobbed. "Apparently it was the murderer of my parents," he said. Suddenly, Kalirn began to stare at a body nearby. He cried, "No! It's Jason, he's dead!" Jason had been Kalirn's best friend for several years. Kalirn turned to his brother. "Come on, Zinin," he said, "we have to go." Zinin nodded, and rushed inside to collect his most valuable belongings.  
  
The brothers trudged along. They had been walking all night long, and the sun was beginning to come up. Finally, Zinin saw a light ahead. "Kalirn!" he exclaimed, "I think it's a city tower, come on." Both boys rushed towards the light, and soon the tall city walls of a city were in sight. "I think we passed that city on the way to Collosso," said Kalirn, "it didn't seem so long then, because we were in a carriage." Zinin nodded as they entered the gates. They walked towards the inn, and opened the door. Kalirn rushed up to the innkeeper and said, breathing hard, "Kolima... has been destroyed!" The man had had a smile on his face, but it sank into a frown. His eyes grew wide and he said, "What? Destroyed?" Then he smiled again. "Haha," he replied, "I know that you're joking. A six-year-old and his little friend wouldn't come all the way from Kolima to tell me that! It's impossible that such little children could make it." Kalirn replied, "I'm nine, and I won Collosso. I'm not a weakling, and I could beat you up right now if I wanted." The man laughed. "You? Collosso? You surely know six-year-olds can't enter Collosso, so why even make up such a story?" Kalirn glared at him icily and said, "I told you, I'm nine, and my name is Kalirn. My brother and I are the only survivors of Kolima, and if you still don't believe that I won Collosso, look at this." Kalirn pulled out his money bag and showed the innkeeper his coins. The man smiled at the sight of the money and said, "So, will you be staying here?" Kalirn nodded. "That'll be fifteen coins apeice." Kalirn glared, and replied, "If it's fifteen coins each, why does the sign say five?" The man shrugged, and replied, "Silly me, you're right. Five and five is fifteen, so I got it mixed up." Zinin stepped up and said, "We aren't stupid. We know five and five is ten, so stop trying to cheat us." The man laughed nervously, and said, "Oh, you're right. Oops." He smiled, and took the coins Kalirn handed over.  
  
"Kalirn," said Zinin. His brother replied, "Right here." Zinin continued, "Can we be friends now, since we're the only person each other's got?" After a short silence, Kalirn replied, "I suppose I have been a little bit rude to you." Zinin snorted quietly, but Kalirn didn't hear. "I guess we could be friends," he finished. Zinin smiled to himself as he began to drift off to sleep.  
  
Kalirn pushed a clump of dark hair out of his face. He kept his hair a little bit shorter than his brother's. It hung down only to his shoulders. He waved his sword around a little bit, and then returned it to it's sheath. He saw Zinin standing nearby, arguing with an older boy. Kalirn laughed. If this turned into a fight, it was something he'd like to watch. He got his wish. Apparently, Zinin claimed that magic existed and the other boy said that it didn't. The other boy got angry at Zinin and punched him. He got to see magic all right. Zinin aimed a plasma near enough to the other boy to scare him, but not to actually hurt him. The other boy laughed. "Very convincing, but I'm not fooled," he said. Zinin replied, "You will be convinced after I'm done with you." He read his mind. "Your name is George, you are ten years old, and you moved here when you were five years old. You moved here from... Lunpa? I've never heard of that place before. A thieves hideout, is it?" Zinin laughed, and the other boy asked, "How did you do that?" Zinin shrugged, and replied, "I guess there is no such thing as magic, so I suppose that's a miracle, huh?" He cast plasma again, this time barely touching George. The older boy screached and ran off. Zinin turned to see that Kalirn was laughing hysterically. He walked over to his brother and suggested having some food. Kalirn quickly agreed and they headed towards the inn.  
  
The two boys sat eating bread and drinking milk. Kalirn seemed much more hungry than Zinin. The younger of the two looked lost and confused. He stared at the ceiling. Finally, Kalirn finished eating and paid the innkeeper for the food. He returned to Zinin and said, "Come on, I'm done eating." Zinin looked surprised, and replied, "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about Mom and Dad... Who do you suppose that Xulkar guy was?" Kalirn shrugged. "Probably just some evil person who has nothing better to do than kill innocent people," he replied. Zinin laughed. "That sounds about right," he answered.  
  
"Come on, Kalirn! You're too slow!" Zinin shouted at his brother. They were racing around the city, and Zinin was winning. He laughed. Beating Kalirn was easy. Zinin came to a stop in front of the gates. "I win!" he shouted to his brother, who ran up right behind him. Kalirn jokingly acted angry. He put his hands into fists, and started glaring. However he couldn't stay like that for long, and soon began to laugh.  
  
Zinin cast plasma, and watched the blue energy burn the ground. No more grass remained, as Zinin had been casting Plasma there for several days. He sighed. 'If only I could get another chance at that guy, surely I could beat him, and avenge my parents,' he thought. Just thining about his parents nearly made him cry. He struggled to fight back tears, and continued practicing his plasma. He would get Xulkar if he died trying.  
  
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Yay! Chapter five, finally! Who is the mysterious "Xulkar?" Tune in after I get twenty five reviews to (maybe) find out! 


	6. Chapter Six: Far From Home

I don't own Golden Sun.  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Several days later, while Zinin was training alone, he heard a voice behind him. He knew the voice too well; it was Xulkar. "Hi, Zinin," he said. Whirling around, Zinin thrust his sword where the voice had been coming from. There was nobody there. He ran off in the direction that he thought Xulkar had run. After running for a while, he found Xulkar leaning against a tree. His hood covered a lot of his face, and Zinin couldn't very easily identify his real looks. The man drew a long sword and said, "Zinin, you want to fight?" The calm tone that Xulkar used angered Zinin. He prepared his sword and slowly approached his enemy. When he got nearly into range, Xulkar ran off again. The boy muttered, and rushed off again. After several more chases, he realized it was getting late. There was no way he could get back to the city in time, so he kept running. Eventually, Xulkar said, "Fine, I'll fight you." He drew his sword which he had returned to its sheath, and swung at Zinin. The boy ducked and twisted upwards to block the sword. He rushed past Xulkar and nearly ended his life... or so he thought. Xulkar blocked Zinin's stab and attacked with his own. Xulkar's sword was about twice as long as Zinin's, giving him a large advantage, however Zinin blocked the stab. He countered with a downward slash, and then Xulkar was gone. Zinin realized he was standing far away from his home, all by himself, and at night. To make matters worse, a small two-headed dog was approaching him. Zinin attacked with plasma, and leapt with his sword. The dog seemed hurt, but didn't fail yet. It rushed towards Zinin and bit his leg. The boy screamed in pain but tried to supress it. He again cast plasma, this time ending the dog's life.  
  
Zinin sighed in relief as he saw a big city in front of him. Despite his wounded leg, he began to run towards the city. Finally, he reached the gates. They were closed. Two soldiers stood around the gate. "Please let me in," said Zinin. One soldier said, "I'm sorry, but we were instructed to not let anyone in. I'm afraid you'll have to wait until morning." Zinin replied, "Please, I have no shoes and I was bit by a two-headed dog." The second soldier laughed. "Why would that make us let you in?" he asked. Zinin said, "I came here from another city all by myself." The first soldier replied, "What was the name of the city?" The boy replied, "Bilibin." Both soldiers gasped. "That's quite far, for one so small as you. I suppose if the dog that bit you was rabid you'd need to get in." Zinin replied, "What's rabid?" The second soldier laughed. "You don't know what rabid is?" he asked. Zinin shook his head. "My parents died when I was one year old, and so I was adopted. Now, my adopted parents are dead, along with the entire village of Kolima. Nobody ever taught me anything about rabid." The first soldier said, "Forget it. He probably wasn't rabid. You can come into the city, but I doubt you can afford the inn. It's expensive around here. Ten coins a night." Zinin sighed. "That means I can only stay a few days," he said. He always carried around a few coins which Kalirn had given him, in case something like this did happen. Then the first soldier had an idea. "You can stay at my house," he said. Zinin replied, "Really? That would be great!"  
  
Kalirn was looking around frantically for Zinin. His brother wasn't careless, he wouldn't just wander off. He must have gone after something, or... Kalirn shuddered... be killed. A month ago, he wouldn't even have missed Zinin. However now that he was gone, Kalirn missed him. 'Perhaps he will come back tomorrow,' he told himself.  
  
Zinin yawned and slowly climbed out of his bed. He saw the soldier standing nearby, and walked over to him. He smiled, and said, "Thank you for letting me use your bed, it was quite comfortable." The soldier smiled and said, "No problem. That's an extra bed, and nobody in my family uses it." Zinin grinned, and grabbed his sword. He strapped it to his back, and left the house. The soldier had told him that the city was named Vault. Zinin looked around. He didn't see why it was named that, nor did he like the sound of the name as well as Kolima. He sighed, because that made him think of his parents. The city was quite boring, and had very few trees. However, it was quite a large city in comparison to Kolima. About fifty people lived in Kolima, and Zinin estimated that atleast two hundred lived in Vault. He wandered around the city, looking for anything that may be helpful to him. Deimos said, "My brother lives around here somewhere." A flash of red light appeared above Zinin's head, and then disappeared into the air. Deimos had never joined with Zinin, because he was afraid it would mess up his attacks. Several minutes later, Deimos triumphantly reappeared, and next to him was another red furball. The new djinn said, "Hi," and then disappeared. Deimos laughed. "He's a bit shy," he said, "his name is Phobos."  
  
Kalirn sadly wandered around Bilibin looking for his brother. The only thing that could cheer him up is that the money would last him twice as long. He finally gave up looking for Zinin. Suddenly, a red ball appeared in front of him, and disappeared. Standing in mid-air was a red furball. "Hello," he said, "I'm Deimos. Your brother is in Vault. He's safe, but he misses you. I can show you the way there if you want me to." Kalirn said, "Huh? Why would he go to another city without telling me?" Deimos replied, "Well, he was chasing Xulkar. That little rat." Kalirn nodded. "Let's go," he said.  
  
Zinin waited for Deimos to return. He sat on a rock watching the gate. Finally, he saw a flash of red light in the distance. He rushed out of the city and towards his brother. "Kalirn!" he shouted. His brother ran up. He grinned. "Hello," he said, "have you been missing my money?" Zinin laughed.  
  
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Chapter Six! Like the patern with the names? I think I deserve a couple more reviews for that... hehehe... *ahem* REVIEW! 


	7. Chapter Seven: Gaolik

I don't own Golden Sun!  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
Zinin paced back and forth next to his bed. Since Kalirn had come, they were now staying in the inn. It was fairly old, and made of wood. Zinin was afraid it might collapse soon, and he couldn't sleep. Suddenly, he heard a noice outside of the inn. Normally, he would have expected it to be some animal wandering around looking for food, but Zinin sinced something not right. He ran to the door, and tried to open it. Perhaps it was just stuck, but the boy thought psynergy was holding it closed. He rushed towards the wall of the room. Putting his arms in front of him, he jumped at the wall, and went right through it. He rolled on the floor and got up, drawing his sword. Nearby stood a man, laughing. The boy looked at his face. It was Xulkar. "Very impressive," his enemy said, "that you could come outside so quickly. Not every boy your age can do that. You should be proud." Zinin smirked. "It was nothing," he said. Xulkar drew his sword. "Just as this will be nothing. I've killed grown men much stronger than you. It doesn't take much to kill a little boy," he replied. Zinin shrugged, and prepared for battle. Xulkar floated towards him, and swung his sword down at him. The boy put his sword up in defence, but it took all of his strength to out-muscle the grown warrior. Xulkar laughed. "Quite strong, however I wasn't trying," he said. Zinin shrugged, and said nothing. He cast plasma, but Xulkar dodged it. The boy concentrated his energy through his sword, and threw it towards his strong opponent, barely missing. Suddenly, Deimos appeared next to him and leapt towards Xulkar. A red beam of energy shot from his small body and hit Xulkar. The man began to laugh. "Your fire powers are weak against me, however my powers will be strong against you!" he shouted. His sword began to seemingly burn, and he approached Zinin. A thin blast of fire came from Xulkar's arm and knocked the boy to the ground. Just as he was about to bring his burning sword down, another sword was in the way. Zinin looked up to see a boy with short blue hair and bright green eyes. The new boy kept his sword over Zinin, protecting him. He then said to Xulkar, "Why kill such a young boy as him? He looks perfectly harmless to me. I doubt he could hurt such an all powerful warrior as you claim yourself to be." Xulkar snarled and turned towards the boy who dared to insult him. "I have my reasons, Gaolik," he said. Gaolik continued as if he hadn't heard him, "Almighty Xulkar. Xulkar the Destroyer. How many names did you have for yourself?" While they were talking, Zinin had slowly stood up. He concentrated his plasma into his sword and this time hit Xulkar in the stomach. The man growled, and he turned to Zinin. Taking a couple of steps backwards, he said, "Gaolik and Zinin, I'm sorry I can't stay and enjoy this party any longer, but I must tend to my own business. He grinned, and whistled. A large black horse rushed up, and he leapt onto it's back. Grinning at the two boys, he rode away.  
  
Zinin turned to Gaolik. "Who are you?" he asked. The boy answered, "My name is Gaolik, and I'm a Lemurian. I'm twelve years old, but I'm respected highly." Zinin nodded, and replied, "You seem to know Xulkar?" Gaolik nodded, but didn't say anything. Zinin continued, "My name is Zinin. I came from Kolima. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but Xulkar destroyed it." Gaolik nodded. He said, "Xulkar is also a Lemurian. That's how I know him. Several years ago, when I was about your age probably, he decided that he was going to conquer the world. He told the king of Lemuria, and asked for soldiers and support. The king refused to help him, and he was so angry that he killed the king. However, the king was getting to be old by that time, about one hundred and eighty years, so he had children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren. His oldest son was about one hundred and twenty years old at that time, and he became king. He is still king today, and in fact I am the youngest son of his oldest son." Zinin nodded, and replied, "I'm nobody. I never knew my real parents, because they were killed by that monster. I was adopted, but my new parents were also killed by him." Gaolik nodded, and said, "I'm sorry to here that." Then, Zinin asked, "Where is Lemuria anyway, and why do the people there live so long?" The older boy laughed, and replied, "I can't really tell you where it is, because it's a secret, but the reason we live a long time is because we have a special drink which will make us live longer. Let's get inside, it's a bit cold out here."  
  
Once the two boys were inside, Zinin asked, "Is Lemuria far?" Gaolik nodded. "All the way across the sea. I came here several years ago, because two men named Babi and Lunpa went to Lemuria, and I decided to come back with them. I defended the ship from monsters on the way back." Zinin nodded. "It sounds as though you have been quite busy over the past years," he replied. "I think I'll go get Kalirn," he added. Gaolik asked, "Who?" and Zinin replied, "Oh, Kalirn. He's my brother, sort of." Zinin rushed up the stairs to get his brother. Several minutes later Zinin and a sleepy-looking Kalirn came back down. "Are you Kalirn?" asked Gaolik, after the other two boys made it down the steps. Kalirn slowly nodded, and mumbled, "Who are you and what do you want?" Gaolik smiled. "I'm Gaolik," he said, "and I saved your brother's life." Kalirn continued, still mumbling, "Zinin doesn't need saving he's strong." Zinin shook his head. "No, it was Xulkar. That man has amazing power." Kalirn rubbed his eyes and said, "Well, if you have something important to say, say it now because I'm going back to bed." Gaolik shrugged, and Kalirn walked off.  
  
"So, are you a good fighter?" asked Zinin. Gaolik nodded. "I fight with a sword." Zinin drew his sword. "Me too," he said. Suddenly, the innkeeper noticed that he had drawn his sword, and shouted, "I do not allow drawn weapons in this inn! Guards!" Two men rushed in and the innkeeper turned to Zinin. He quickly sheathed his sword and said, "I was just showing it to my friend here, I meant no harm." This wasn't a good enough answer for the guards, and one signalled to the other. The other guard nodded, and they walked towards Zinin. Strong hands gripped him and lifted him off the ground. "Where are you taking me?" asked Zinin. "You're being imprisoned for a year for drawing your weapon inside of this inn." Suddenly, Gaolik roared, "Oh no he isn't! This boy knew nothing of that rule!" With this, he drew his own sword. A piece of ice slammed into one man and he fell to the ground. Gaolik then rushed towards the other man, slicing his head off with ease, and causing Zinin to fall to the ground. The innkeeper rushed out of the inn, and Zinin stood back up. He drew his sword and prepared for more attacks. "Kalirn!" he shouted. There was no answer. Again, he shouted to his brother. By this time, many soldiers were piling in the door. Gaolik put his sword above his head and brought it down on a soldier. Zinin cast plasma, injuring several men. He blocked a slash from one soldier, but another hit him in the leg, and he collapsed on the floor. Just as two soldiers drew near enough to kill him, he felt his strength returning, and did a backflip off the ground, landing on his feet. He turned to see Kairn standing on the stairs, grinning. He smiled, and turned back to the fight. Meanwhile, Gaolik had killed several more of the soldiers, but there seemed to be an endless supply of them. Then, he got hit in the arm and dropped his sword. He began to back up, and the soldiers soon covered the sword. He wasn't sure, but he thought he had seen a soldier bend over and pick the sword up. Then, a huge golden sword flew over his head, killing five soldiers in one hit. Kalirn leapt in front of him, sword drawn. Zinin began moving towards them, fending off any soldiers that came too near. Kalirn cast cure well on Gaolik, who soon afterwards found a sword lying on the ground. As he was only twelve years old, his old sword had been fairly small, and the new one gave him some trouble to use, however it was better than nothing. For about an hour more they continued fighting, until all three of them had become worn out, hit with the hilt of a sword, and rendered unconcious.  
  
Zinin awoke in a prison cell. He looked around. On either sides of him were two more prison cells. His heart sank as he realized three things at once. He was chained, his sword had been taken, and Gaolik and Kalirn filled the other two cells. They were already awake, and whispering to each other. "Do they feed us?" asked Kalirn. "Yeah, a man or woman will come along and give us food occasionally," Gaolik replied in a low voice. "We need to get the key somehow," whispered Zinin.  
  
Finally, the man they had all been waiting for arrived. A fairly fat man walked in whistling and holding a plate with a couple peices of bread on it. He walked up to Kalirn's cell, as it was the closest to the door. He fished through his pocket until he found the keys. He put a large one into the lock and set the food next to Kalirn. "Wait a second," said Kalirn. The fat man replied, "Why should I?" However the man did stop long enough to say that, which was long enough. Hardly had he finished the sentence, when a large golden sword slammed into him, and he fell down immediately. Another sword appeared and cut the chains off of him. He quickly stood up and grabbed the keys. He then went through the man's pockets. Several minutes later, he had gotten about two hundred coins from his pockets, and he continued to unlock the other two. He cut Zinin's chains, and then unlocked his door. He then continued on to Gaolik.  
  
Once all three of the friends were free, they carefully left the prison. It was dark outside, except for torches lit on the tops of towers around the city. Gaolik whispered, "We had better not try to get our weapons back, but instead continue to another city." Kalirn nodded, and they headed towards the gates. Gaolik began to quietly climb the wall, as the gate was closed. Just as he was nearly to the top, he heard a shout. He had been spotted by one of the men in one of the towers. An arrow narrowly missed him, and stuck into the wall. Gaolik sped up and managed to get over the top. He jumped off the wall and began to run. After he was about one hundred feet away, he turned to see if his friends were managing. As he turned, he saw Zinin jump off the wall and begin running. He caught up with Gaolik, and they waited for a little bit. Kalirn didn't come. The two friends headed back towards the city, and then saw Kalirn fall off the wall, an arrow barely sticking into him. Zinin gasped and whispered, "No... it can't be!" Gaolik, unknown to Zinin, also had healing powers. He extended his hand toward Kalirn, and the arrow flew out, revealing a closed up wound. Kalirn looked up at the other two and jumped to his feet. "Come on!" he said. The three rushed off as fast as they could, dodging a couple of arrows at first, but they were soon out of range. Once they were far enough from the city that they couldn't even see it any more, Gaolik asked, "Where should we go now?" Just then, Deimos appeared hovering in the air. "How about Bilibin?" he asked. Kalirn nodded. "That's where we have been living until recently," said Zinin. Gaolik nodded. "Another option would be Kalay," he said. Zinin nodded excitedly. "That would be good," he said, "because it's close to Tolbi, so we can go to Collosso!" Kalirn nodded. "I won Collosso this year!" he exclaimed, obviously quite proud of himself still. "I'll bet I can beat you next year," Gaolik laughed. Kalirn shrugged. "We'll see!" he said. Zinin laughed and the three boys set off in the direction they thought Kalay was.  
  
As the first rays of sunlight appeared, so did Kalay. "There it is!" shouted Zinin. All three boys were very gratefull that they hadn't run into any enemies on the way. "I hope the shops are open this early," said Zinin, "because I want to buy a new sword!" He ran off towards the city, seemingly unfazed by the tiring journey all through the night. Gaolik laughed. "Jupiter adepts," he said to himself. He then turned to Kalirn and said, "I'm a Mercury adept, and I believe you are a Venus adept?" Kalirn shrugged. "I don't know," he replied. "Your force is strong," said Gaolik, "it's almost as powerful as mine!" Kalirn said, "Force? What's force?" Gaolik laughed. "You know, this." He laughed, and bits of ice fell through the air. "Oh," replied Kalirn, "I call that psynergy." Gaolik shrugged. "Call it whatever you want, then," he replied. By this time, they had reached the city too. They looked for a shop, which they found without much trouble. Inside, they found Zinin holding a sword. He smiled at them and said, "I'm going to buy this one!" With that, he sheathed it, and walked over to the counter. Kalirn and Gaolik both chose new weapons, and purchased them. It turned out that Gaolik had a fairly large supply of money too. He told Kalirn that he had entered Collosso and won when he was ten years old for the first time, but for some reason he hadn't gone to the Collosso the year before, 'which is the only reason Kalirn had won', as he put it.  
  
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Yay, I finally finished chapter seven! I hope you liked it!  
  
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	8. Chapter Eight: Here In Tolbi Again

I don't own Golden Sun.  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
"Alright, let's go to Collosso!" shouted Zinin. He ran towards the carriage and jumped in. Kalirn and Gaolik followed, and they set off towards Tolbi. After traveling for a while, they finally arrived in Tolbi. Although it was not yet time for Collosso tryouts, the friends didn't want to miss it.  
  
"Really? They let you sign up even though you're only eight?" asked Kalirn. Zinin nodded excitedly. "I can't wait!" he exclaimed. "I'll beat you!" Kalirn laughed. Over the last few months in Tolbi, they had been training hard. Now that Collosso was coming up, they were ready for it.  
  
"Go!" a man shouted. Gaolik began running towards his first obstacle. It was a wall, easily five feet high. He scrambled up it and jumped off the other side. Continuing onwards, Gaolik grinned to himself. This was going to be too easy. The next obstacle was directly in front of him. Small pools of water. Gaolik loved water, but he couldn't stop to play in it. He jumped over the water and ran towards the next obstacle. It was a belt moving backwards. Gaolik charged towards it and ran over it easily, barely touching the ground. Ahead of him, he saw a raised platform. On it sat two swords. He quickly lifted one of them and prepared for battle. Soon afterwards, his opponent ran up. The tall muscular man glared down at the boy who had beaten him to the battlefield. "I'll teach you, kid." Gaolik shrugged, and replied, "Don't be too sure." The man grinned, revealing several missing teeth. His face was scarred, and he looked as though a sword couldn't cut through him. He picked up the other sword, and rushed towards Gaolik. Their swords clanged together, and Gaolik tried his hardest to resist. The man spit in his face and laughed. "You're pitiful," he said. Gaolik shrugged, and cast ice horn. The thin peices of ice sliced into the man, causing blood to seep out, but no serious injury. The man asked, "What was that? You're cheating, I just know it. I don't know how but I know that you are. If you want to cheat, I can play that same game. With that, he pulled a long sharp sword from within his clothing. He grinned and said, "It's too late to give up now, kid. I'm going to kill you." Security guards ran onto the battlefield to try to stop the man before he killed Gaolik, but never made it to him. The huge man slashed his heavy sword down repeatedly, killing all of the guards. Only Gaolik remained. He leapt forwards, casting hail prism at the same time as attacking with his sword. "I'm stronger than you think," he said, "and I haven't even used my full power yet." As he finished talking, the sheets of ice slammed into the man, knocking him unconcious. Gaolik smirked, and walked over to him. "You'll never kill again," he said. WIth that, he grabbed the man's sword, and stabbed it through his heart. He signalled to the guards who had just entered to take him away, and then grabbed hold of the blade of the sword. Blood came from his hands, but he held on tight. He began to bend it, until it finally snapped in half. With a grin, he dropped the two halves on the ground and cast ply on his hands. Meanwhile, the audience had been frightened by the entire thing, and finally cheered for the triumphant Gaolik.  
  
"That was an odd fight," said Gaolik, several hours later. Zinin nodded. "I hope I don't have to fight some insane monkey," he said. Kalirn laughed. "My first fight is tomorrow. I think I'm fighting a respected citizen of Tolbi." Gaolik laughed.  
  
Kalirn found himself facing a fairly short man, not much taller than himself. He had short black hair. Kalirn smiled, and said, "Good luck." The other man nodded, and said, "The same to you." He then lunged forwards with extreme speed, nearly killing Kalirn right then. However, he managed to get his sword up just in time to save himself. "Not bad," he said. His opponent replied, "Not bad yourself! Almost anyone I've ever done that to lost to it immediately." Kalirn grinned, and said, "I won last year, but with you around I could have trouble this time." The other man laughed. "Why do you look so happy about it then?" Kalirn laughed himself, and said, "Because." With that, he cast spire. The large rock fell down towards his opponent, who barely managed to move out of the way in time. For several minutes the two competitors continued to fight, until finally a spire hit the man. Kalirn grinned, and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" He laughed, and walked away.  
  
Zinin was nervous. His friends had both won their matches, but he was afraid that he would lose himself. He kept telling himself that he wasn't going to be fighting Xulkar, or even an adept, as far as he knew, but he couldn't calm down. It was finally time to go. He walked towards his first obstacle. A large wall covered in vines stood in front of him. He laughed. This would be easy. He jumped into the air, grabbing a vine. Next, he grabbed for another vine above. After switching to that vine, he climbed up it. At the top, he saw several large birds flying around, and some water below. He laughed to himself, and jumped onto a bird. With psynergy he communicated to the bird, and flew over the remaining obstacles. At the end, he hopped off the bird and grabbed a sword from the ground. The audience gasped. Zinin heard shouts and whistles from the ground. This boosted his morale slightly, and he waited for his opponent to arrive. When he finally came, he was amazed to see Zinin sitting on the ground, nearly asleep. He laughed, and said, "Hey kid! How long have you been waiting?" Zinin got up and said, "Oh, I'm sorry about that." He grinned. He quickly ran towards the man, swinging his sword. His hair flew out behind him, and he began moving extremely fast. Suddenly, a huge red beast flew over his head, trampling his opponent. He gasped, and ran over the the man. "Are you all right?" he asked. The man moaned, and looked up at him. "What was that?" he asked. Zinin shrugged. "I have no clue," he said. The man moaned, and closed his eyes. Zinin sighed in relief at his victory, and wondered what had happened.  
  
Later, Zinin was talking to Phobos and Deimos. He asked them, "Did you have something to do with that... thing?" The djinni began to giggle. Phobos said, "We decided to help you. Not gonna let anybody else win..." Deimos giggled harder, and Phobos continued, "It was Kirin! Kirin helped you win! You owe Kirin a big thank you!" The djinni went on and on about Kirin, and Zinin began to laugh.  
  
Kalirn groaned as he looked over the schedule for the next rounds of Collosso. He was fighting Gaolik. The next round was going to take place in about an hour. Zinin was fighting someone who was signed up as 'War- Hero'. Kalirn laughed. 'Yeah right,' he thought. He then went off to prepare for the next round.  
  
After Zinin's victory in the previous round, he was extremely excited about the next round. He hoped to get a ride on a bird. Finally, he heard the voice he was waiting for. It shouted, "Go!" Wasting no time, he ran towards the first obstacle. It was a pool of water with a log in it. He didn't know what the log was for, so he rushed towards it and jumped. Right before hitting the water, Deimos and Phobos grabbed his feet. He looked down in amazement realizing that he was walking on the water. He quickly rushed over the pool, continiously gaining altitude. He laughed, looking down at the awe-strucken audience. Soon, he landed on the ground, and grabbed a sword. Not long afterwards, his opponent walked up, and picked up the other sword. He was a young man, appearing to be about twenty years old. Zinin laughed. "Hello," he said, "and goodbye." He grinned widely, and the spirit of Kirin came down to attack. 'War-Hero' managed to dive out of the way in time, and the metal platform melted where the spirit hit. Zinin whispered, "Phobos! Deimos! Don't do that unless I tell you to, ok?" The djinni agreed, and Zinin again concentrated on the battle. He cast plasma repeatedly, but his opponent was able to dodge them. He steadily came closer to him, until he was in range to attack. Zinin did a backflip and pointed his sword at his opponent. Concentrating hard, he managed to send a storm ray through the sword, striking his opponent's sword. The electricity filled the sword and overflowed into the man. He screamed in pain, dropping the sword. Zinin grinned, dropped his own sword, and slammed his head into the man's chest as hard as he could, knocking him backwards.  
  
Kalirn sighed. He didn't know why Zinin was doing so well, but he knew that he didn't stand a chance against him. He shrugged, and prepared to battle Gaolik. Several minutes later, he found himself holding a sword, facing him. He grinned at him, but stood back. Gaolik pointed his sword slightly forwards.  
  
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Sorry about the wait, I had a complete mental block. Anyway, in the next chapter... Well, I can't tell you, or you'd know! That'd ruin the surprise!  
  
Oh well.  
  
Review.  
  
Or...  
  
Else!  
  
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	9. Chapter Nine: I Win

I don't own Golden Sun.  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
Kalirn tried a slash at Gaolik's leg, but it was dodged. When he looked, he didn't see Gaolik anymore. He looked around, and finally saw him standing in the crowd. The older boy laughed, and did a flip back to the battle. "Watch this!" he exclaimed. He threw his sword into the air, and shot two beams of water, one from either hand, towards it. The water turned to ice around the sword, and fell down on Kalirn's arm. Although the actual blade didn't hit him, the ice was extremely sharp. The boy screamed in pain, and dropped his sword. With the other hand, he picked it back up and walked towards Gaolik. Meanwhile, Gaolik had scrambled over and grabbed his own sword. Kalirn laughed, seemingly unfazed by the state of his arm. "You're not the only one with tricks," he said. "I was hoping not to have to use this until I fought Zinin, but it looks like a time has come. Even he doesn't know about it." He lifted his hands into the air, and golden light surrounded him. When the light died down, Kalirn stood there, looking exactly the same as before. He smiled, and said, "Notice any difference?" Gaolik shrugged, and shook his head. Kalirn laughed. "Good," he said. He walked over to Gaolik, and grabbed his sword quickly from him. He pulled back his arms, and threw both swords into the audience, smashing the ice still clinging to Gaolik's sword when it hit the ground. He grinned at his opponent, and said, "Fist fight?" Gaolik shrugged, but before he could reply, Kalirn had smashed his fist into his face. Gaolik fell backwards and rubbed his nose. "You haven't won yet!" he exclaimed, leaping into a defence position. He grinned, and healed his bleeding face. Ducking under Kalirn's next attack, he reached for his legs. He barely managed to grab one of them, and tried to knock him off balance. Kalirn shook his leg free, and kicked him in the jaw. Gaolik flew backwards a couple of feet, and again healed himself. He sighed to himself, and shot another beam of water at Kalirn. It hit his right arm, and froze solidly. Kalirn glared at him, but decided to use the ice to his advantage. He ran towards Gaolik, attempting to smash it down on his head. However although Gaolik was a Mercury adept, he had speeds comparable to a Jupiter adept. He managed to nearly dodge the entire blow, but a portion of it hit his shoulder. He groaned, but when he looked up, he saw that Kalirn was fighting a large beast... the very same one that had caused Zinin to win his battle. 'What's going on with that thing?' he asked himself. He grinned, however when he realized it was beating him. Meanwhile, Zinin watched the battle from his position in the stands. When Kirin appeared, he sighed. 'I guess those djinni will do anything to make me win... even get involved in somebody else's battle.' He laughed. Soon, Kalirn lay unconcious on the ground. Gaolik grinned over at the unconcious body, and walked off the battlefield.  
  
After the battle between Kalirn and Gaolik, Zinin stood in his room at the inn and said to his djinni, "Why did you do that? That wasn't my battle, so you had no business getting into it! Kalirn had a right to beat Gaolik because he was stronger. The goal of Collosso is not to see who can cheat the best, it's to see whose the strongest. I may not have been able to beat Kalirn, which means you could have just removed the winner from making it to the last round!" The djinni shrugged, and giggled. Phobos looked at Deimos and nodded his head. They stood from their positions on Zinin's bed, and disappeared.  
  
Zinin knocked on Kalirn's door. There was no reply, so he knocked again. This time, Kalirn opened the door and stepped out. He smiled weakly, and said, "Yes, Zinin?" The younger boy sighed, and said, "Phobos and Deimos would like to apologize to you for your defeat." Kalirn sighed. "Phobos? I don't know any Phobos, only Deimos. So, what did they want to say?" Zinin laughed, and the two fire djinni appeared. Phobos said, "I'm Phobos..." Kalirn sighed, and said, "Alright, what did you do?" Deimos nodded, to Phobos, who disappeared. "Well," he said, and cleared his throat, "Um... we made you lose... because we wanted Zinin to win. But you should take it as a compliment, because..." He was cut off when Zinin glared at him. Deimos continued, "Well, we made you lose because we were afraid you would beat Zinin. You see, we made Kirin come along." Kalirn laughed bitterly. "Oh, so that's what that thing was?" Deimos nodded slowly, and disappeared. Zinin shrugged, and said, "I can try to get a rematch for you, but I don't know if they'll agree." Kalirn nodded, seeming slightly cheered up. "Well, I'm glad to know that wasn't Gaolik. Now, I'll atleast have some defence when he goes on and on about how he beat me." Zinin laughed, and walked off.  
  
"What do you mean, rematch?" shouted Gaolik. "I beat him fair and square." Zinin laughed. "No, that's only what you think. Actually, my djinni beat him." Gaolik laughed. "What are they?" he asked. Zinin laughed, and the two djinni appeared. "Phobos and Deimos," he said. Gaolik shrugged, and said, "I still think I beat him fairly." Zinin shook his head, and turning to leave, said, "Well, the people running Collosso didn't seem to think so."  
  
Gaolik stood facing Kalirn, and began to glare. He stuck his hands into the air, and a large thin sheet of ice surrounded him. The ice was completely clean, making it easy to see through. Kalirn laughed, although Gaolik didn't hear him. He used the same attack he had used in the match before, which he had called strength-enhance. Running towards the icy wall, he drew his sword back, and thrust it into the wall. Although his attack gave him strength and kept him from wearing out, the only drawback was in speed. When using his attack, he was less than half as fast as before. Because of his loss of speed, Gaolik easily dodged the blade as it shattered the entire ice wall into peices. He quickly got behind Kalirn and thrust his sword into his back. The younger boy screamed in pain, and drew the sword out. Although he was hit with an attack that would most likely kill almost anyone, even a full grown man, he didn't die. Instead, he had taken small damage, rid his enemy of a weapon, and gained himself another weapon. Gaolik glared to himself, and kicked Kalirn's leg out from underneath him. He fell hard, and Gaolik took advantage of this time to barrage him with kicks and punches. However soon Kalirn was again standing, holding his two swords ready. Gaolik put a lot of energy into an ice attack, barely knocking one of the swords out of Kalirn's hand. Before his opponent could get the sword, Gaolik rushed to pick it up. He grabbed it and threw it at Kalirn. He grinned inwardly as it struck barely into his right shoulder. Kalirn glared at him, and ran towards him as fast as he could. Gaolik slowly backed up, and then started running towards the side of the arena. Kalirn was now running nearly his top speed, and close behind. With a grin, the older boy kicked off the wall and flipped over Kalirn's head, punching him hard as he did so. To the amazement of Gaolik, Kalirn suddenly stopped the strength, and whirled around quickly, sending his foot into his stomach. Gaolik fell backwards, but managed to do a backflip to stop his fall. Kalirn watched as he backflipped away, sending a blast of water towards him. He laughed, and put up his hands. A golden- brown boulder appeared in front of him, blocking the entire water attack. Walking around the boulder, Kalirn was surprised to see another blast of water coming towards him. This time, he was unable to block it. The freezing water washed over him, and he was barely able to withstand it. He cast potent cure on himself, but still was barely in a position to fight. Again, he cast strength-enhance and approached Gaolik. He was dodged again and again, but eventually managed to land a solid punch on Gaolik's head. The older boy flew backwards several feet, and lay still. Kalirn laughed, and said, "So much for winning, huh?" With a grin, he walked away.  
  
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Yay, FINALLY another chapter. Terribly sorry, I just never really got around to updating.  
  
Oh well...  
  
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	10. Chapter Ten: Journey Continues

I don't own Golden Sun, do you?  
  
Chapter Ten  
  
Zinin stood facing his brother, a grin on his face. He pointed his sword slightly forwards, and charged towards the older boy. Before making it towards his opponent, however, he turned sharply to the right, getting behind him. He slashed to the side, but it was barely blocked. Kalirn whirled around to face him, stabbing forwards with his sword at the same time. Zinin knocked the sword aside right before it would have hit him in the chest. Instead, it only scraped his side.  
  
The two boys continued to fight for about half an hour, until finally Zinin managed to hit Kalirn on the top of his head with a rock which he had hurled. Kalirn fell down, but slowly stood back up. Meanwhile, Zinin rushed over and slammed the hilt of his sword down onto Kalirn's head. The older boy stood up, and grabbed his sword with both hands. He brought it above his head, and then down. The side of the blade hit Zinin's leg as he scrambled to get away, making it go numb. He made no sound, but rolled out of the way before Kalirn could get in another attack. Suddenly, Phobos appeared and red energy flowed into Zinin's leg. He stood back up on both legs, and charged towards Kalirn, his sword swinging quickly. Kalirn tried to move out of the way, but wasn't quite in time. The sword cut his arm, but barely affected him. Zinin grinned, continuing with several more attacks. Before long, Kalirn was lying unconcious on the ground.  
  
"Look at the sword I got!" exclaimed Zinin, after he had claimed his prize for winning Collosso. Kalirn looked up from his position in a bed, and muttered. Zinin grinned, holding up the sword. It was fairly thin, and not too terribly long, although a bit to big for the small boy. The hilt was a light silver, and the blade pure white. A tiny emerald sat on the hilt, glowing a bright green. Zinin slowly swung it through the air and grinned. He sheathed it in a new sheath, which he had also won. It was mostly black, except a dark green band at the top, and a silver tip. Along with these prizes, he had also won a thousand coins. With these he planned to buy a pair of new clothes.  
  
Zinin walked out of the shop and headed towards the inn. He had purchased a dark green tunic, and some brown leather boots. He had already put on the boots, and was carrying his old ones. When he made it to his room, he changed his clothes and put his old ones into a small sack he always carried. After that, he lay down on his bed and fell quickly asleep.  
  
The next day, when Zinin was walking around the city of Tolbi, he thought he heard voices behind him. When he turned, he didn't see anything. He continued onwards, but again thought he heard voices. He whirled around again, drawing his sword. This time, he saw a figure wearing a black robe. At first, Zinin thought it was Xulkar, but then he realized that this person was shorter. As he was about to ask who the figure was, a sword appeared in each of the other's hands. It came towards him, and said in a low voice, "Are you the son of Kyle and Dora?" Zinin shrugged slightly, and asked, "Why do you want to know?" The dark man replied, "To be honest, I have come to kill you, before you can grow strong enough to defeat my lord Xulkar. There is no danger in telling you this, as you will not survive." With this, he snapped his fingers, and twelve more similar men appeared out of nowhere. Swords appeared in their hands, and they approached slowly. The first one, which seemed to be the leader, waved an arm at the others. They formed a circle around him, and each one raised their swords. Just as they were about to bring them down, a loud shout stopped them. They turned their attention to the source of the shout. Gaolik and Kalirn rushed forwards, swords drawn. The leader of them snarled, and said, "So, you wish to die as well? Alright, then." He waved his arm in a different way, and seven of his followers turned towards Gaolik and Kalirn. During this time, Zinin was able to get away and join Gaolik and Kalirn. Gaolik threw a sheat of ice onto the group of men, but several of them threw bolts of fire towards it, melting it instantly. The warm water fell down onto them, and several of the black men moaned. One man whistled, and thirteen horses rode up. Four men mounted horses, and rode off. The remaining nine turned back to their opponents, their swords in defensive positions. The leader pointed his swords towards each other, and a fireball appeared between them. With a shout he hurled it forwards. It struck the ground and exploded, knocking all three of the friends to the ground. They quickly stood back up, and Zinin rushed forwards. He stabbed one of black men, who stumbled quickly towards his horse afterwards. Zinin grinned in response to this, and rushed towards another one, which happened to be a bit away from the rest of them. This time, however he met some resistance. Meanwhile, Kalirn and Gaolik were raining down psynergy on the other seven, and attempting to defend themselves as well as they could with psynergetic shields. Before long, however the shields were broken down, and Kalirn and Gaolik weekening. Zinin finally managed to strike the a blow to the head of the one he was fighting, and rushed back to help Gaolik and Kalirn. The man he had hit roared in anger, before riding away on his horse. Zinin glanced around, catching sight of a large nearby tree. By this time the seven others were beginning to approach cautiously, and so with a shout he shot electricity towards the tree. With a crack, it fell to the ground where his opponents were. He ran over to the tree, sword in hand, to look for the others, but they were nowhere to be seen. Looking around, he also noticed that the horses were gone. He muttered, and turned to his friends. "Lost them," he said. There were now many poeple who had run outside of there houses when they heard the tree fall down. When they saw Gaolik, Kalirn, and Zinin holding their weapons, they were curious as to what had happened. Gaolik waved to his friends to stay back, and he walked forwards. "We are truly sorry about your tree," he said. "If you'd like, we can stand it back up, although I'm not sure how much good that would do..." he trailed off. He grinned at Kalirn, who nodded and used his psynergy to lift the tree back up.  
  
"Come on, faster!" shouted Zinin, laughing. It had been several days since they ran into the black warriors, and the three friends had left Tolbi, and were heading south. Zinin was atleast twenty feet ahead of the other two, and easily getting farther ahead. He turned around to see if they were coming, and laughed when he saw that they were getting tired. When he turned back, however, he stopped laughing. Right in front of him stood the leader of the thirteen assassins, holding a sword at his throat. "Don't move," he said, "or I'll send this through you." He laughed and added, "Although I'm going to send it through you anyway. When you're out of the way, there'll be nothing to stop Xulkar from being the most powerful warrior. Yes, as soon as you're dead, he can take over the world, and rule with an iron fist." He then turned to the other two, who were running quickly forwards. "Oh, so you wish your friend dead, do you?" The other two stopped immediately, and drew their swords. "Once I've killed him, you... pathetic little fools won't stand a chance." He shoved his sword forwards, and Zinin dodged to the side, and slightly down, but was still hit on the side of his head. He collapsed, and the leader grinned. "My name is Narkan, although you'll never be able to tell anyone again. You are all going to die, and when you are dead, I will get my reward." He thrust his sword into Zinin's arm, causing a bleeding wound. He lifted his sword to strike again, but Kalirn rushed forwards, shouting, "Stop! If he's dead, why harm his body?" Tears were flowing from his eyes and he battled furiously. Gaolik rushed forwards, casting ply on Zinin, hoping he was still alive. "He's... dead," he said. He drew out a short knife from his belt and threw it towards Narkan, who was still battling Kalirn. Two things happened at once that amazed Gaolik. First, Narkan dodged the thrown knife without ever looking at it, and secondly he jumped about twenty feet into the air, landing a ways off. Gaolik again attempted to heal Zinin, but it was of no use. He rushed towards the battle, slashing downwards at Narkan with both hands. Gaolik and Kalirn continued to fight, but realized quickly that they were losing. Just as Narkan stabbed Gaolik in the leg, and he was falling, he saw that Zinin was standing up. He was covered in blood, but alive. Slowly, he walked towards Narkan, and waved his hands around. A huge ball of purple-blue energy appeared, and he shouted, "Die, and you can take all of your evil with you where you're going!" The energy ball flew from his hands, and struck Narkan in the chest. His body seemed to melt, and then exploded, sending red and green goop everywhere. Zinin limped over to Gaolik and Kalirn, and asked, "You ok?" Kalirn laughed. "You're the one who just got stabbed with a sword several times, and you're asking me if I'm ok?" he asked. He walked over to Gaolik and cast cure on him. Gaolik looked around and asked, "Kalirn? Where's Narkan?" Kalirn grinned, and said, "It looks like we got a bit of luck." He grinned, and walked away. Zinin limped over, and asked, "You feel alright? You seem to have gotten hurt pretty badly." Gaolik shrugged, and smiled.  
  
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Well, here it FINALLY is! 


	11. Chapter Eleven: Killing

I don't own Golden Sun, like I've already told you.  
  
Chapter Eleven  
  
"How did you come back alive?" asked Gaolik, "I thought for sure that you were dead." Zinin shrugged, and replied, "I don't know myself." Kalirn said, "I don't think he was human. I don't think any of them are." Gaolik replied, "Well, I know Xulkar is... As for the others, though, I don't know." Kalirn laughed. "You don't know? Did you not see him jump into the air?" Gaolik nodded. "I saw him jump, which surprised me, but some lemurians can do that." He ran towards a nearby tree and began to run up it, about five steps, before doing a backflip off of it. "There you have it," he said. Zinin grinned. "I want to try!" He rushed towards the tree and copied perfectly Gaolik's trick. Gaolik gasped. "It's almost as if you are a Lemurian. Or maybe you are...?" he said. "I don't think so," replied Zinin, "I don't even know where Lemuria is." Gaolik reminded him, "Xulkar seemed pretty intent on killing you. He usually doesn't just kill children for fun. And all of those assassins? He said if you were dead, Xulkar could become the most powerful warrior." Zinin gasped. "Who said that?" he asked. Gaolik nodded slowly, and said, "The man that you killed." Zinin shrugged, and said, "You don't suppose that means that I will be the most powerful warrior, does it?" Gaolik grinned, and said, "Let's keep going. There's a city along this way somewhere called Suhulla. We can sleep there tonight if we make it on time."  
  
Late that night, the three friends walked into Suhulla. Kalirn was exhausted, but Zinin still felt fresh. Gaolik immediately rushed behind a house, and beckoned for the other two to come nearer. They did so, and he whispered, "They're here. All twelve of them. I saw them." Kalirn replied, also in a whisper, "The assassins?" Gaolik nodded. Zinin grinned, and said, "Well, then, what are we waiting for?" He unsheathed his sword quickly, but Gaolik stopped him. "There are twelve of them, not just one. Be careful!" He drew his own sword, and Kalirn did the same. Zinin looked around the corner, and whispered, "Watch this!" Purple energy flew from his hands into two of the black men. All twelve of them turned towards them. "Shoot," muttered Zinin. He leapt to his feet and slammed a huge energy ball into the first one. It flew threw him and hit the man behind him, too. They both disappeared in an explosion, slowing down the remaining ones. One of them laughed, and said, "So, you defeated our leader, did you? Well, we won't be quite as easy." He threw a dagger towards Zinin, who ducked to avoid it. "On the other hand," replied Zinin, "Defeating us won't be any easy task either." He ran towards a house and flipped off of it onto the roof of the house across from it. He then scrambled down the other side. Meanwhile, Kalirn and Gaolik defended themselves with their swords, casting psynergy attacks occasionally, and defending themselves. Zinin hurled an energy ball about ten inches in diameter over the house. He then rushed around to see that three more lay dead. "Seven more," he reminded himself. "Hey, stupid!" he shouted. All seven of them turned to him, and he grinned. Kalirn and Gaolik immediately slashed forwards, knocking down two more of the assassins. Zinin grinned, and melted them with wind energy. One of the remaining five said, "He is the one Xulkar wants..." Zinin grinned. "That's right," he shouted, "I'm the one he wants dead! Because I will kill him if I don't die!" With this he flipped off of a house, punching downwards while still upside down. One more man fell, and Zinin whirled, slashing another man down, and then Gaolik and Kalirn joined in. Within about five minutes, the other three were down. Zinin sheathed his sword, and destroyed the corpses with his wind energy. The three boys then headed towards inn, fairly worn out after a long day. They paid for three rooms and went immediately to their beds after eating a light dinner.  
  
"What do you mean, the assassins failed?" screamed Xulkar in rage. The quivering man in front of him replied, "I've only just been told... by your djinn." Xulkar shrugged, and replied, "Who else is there that we could use..." He glanced around and finally grinned. "Djinni," he said. He snapped his fingers, and four djinni appeared in front of him, flying in the air. There was one of each of four colors: red, blue, brown, and purple. The brown one spoke first. "What is it, that you have called us to your aid?" Xulkar grinned. "There are three young warriors which I need you four to kill. There will be a reward. The purple one laughed. "I see in your mind. So they are children, are they? Why do you not kill them yourself, Xulkar?" Xulkar glared at the djinn and raised his hand into the air. "It is destined. I can not possibly destroy one of them. If ever I meet him in combat, no matter his status, I will be defeated, and he will live. Now. Will you accept my command?" The blue djinn smirked, and replied, "You say reward. By this, what is meant?" Xulkar grinned, a wicked look on his face. "I'll give you... anything you want," he replied, "Anything in my power." The red djinn, who had been quiet the entire time flew towards Xulkar. "It's a deal," he said. With that, all four djinni disappeared, leaving flashes of light according to their psynergy type behind them.  
  
Zinin laughed as he flipped from rooftop to rooftop. Suddenly, he slammed into someone. He look down at the person he had hit, and said, "Oops, I'm sorry." He then backed up slightly to see who it was. In front of him stood a little boy with a mop of blood-red hair on his head. His eyes were a similar color, and he had a tiny black sheath hanging from an old looking leather belt at his side. "How'd you get up here?" he asked. The boy said nothing, but swayed slightly to the side. Zinin laughed. "Do you speak?" he asked. Again, the boy said nothing. He walked to the side of the roof and jumped off. Zinin gasped, knowing that it was a three story building. He doubted that the child had survived, as he didn't look to be more than four years old. He rushed to the side of the roof, to see that the boy stood unharmed on the ground. Zinin shrugged, and jumped down himself. He walked over to the boy and asked, "Are you an adept?" Again, the boy said nothing, but another boy walked out from behind a tree. His hair was a mop of violet, and his eyes the same color. Something seemed suspicious about the boys to Zinin, and so he followed, but at a distance. The second boy walked over to Zinin and said, "I'm sorry, he's my brother. He's mute, you see?" This boy was almost as tall as Zinin, and wore a similar belt to his brother, with the tiny sheath at the side. "We have two other brothers, you know?" he said. "We are all adepts, as you may have guessed, and have been watching you for a while. You are expert warriors, but we wanted to show you some other tricks!" A tall, muscular boy appearing about fifteen years of age leapt from a nearby rooftop and landed nearby to his brothers. He had long brown hair and eyes of such dark brown they were almost black. The violet-haired boy continued, "We are also skilled warriors. We always fight with knives, because swords seem too... dangerous." He grinned, and Zinin sighed. He walked forwards, and drew out his own knife which he always kept hidden behind his sword. "So, I'll get my friends, and you can teach us some tricks." He carefully entered the inn and got his friends. Quietly, he explained the situation and said that he didn't trust the boys. They walked outside quietly, just in time to hear a different voice saying, "I don't think they're buying it." They walked around the corner, and saw that a fourth boy had joined them. He looked around twelve years old, and Zinin guessed that he was the one who had said the last thing. However, when he talked it sounded quite differently. "Hello, friends. Don't be fooled by our sizes, I'm the most powerful fighter here." He stepped forwards and drew his knife. "I'll challenge any one of you," he said. Zinin shrugged, and stepped forwards. He held his knife forwards, but then let it back down. "Alright," he said, "but I prefer to use my sword." He sheathed his knife and drew his sword. Quickly, he rushed to the side and flipped off of the wall, landing with his sword pointed towards the red-haired boy. "What aren't we buying?" he asked. The boy laughed, and said, "So, you've figured us out?" He then drew his dagger as if he was going to attack Zinin, but instead plunged it into his heart. "Goodbye," he said. He fell to the ground, and lay still. Zinin, in obvious puzzlement, turned to the other three. Each one of them began to glow the color of their hair and eyes, and djinni of those colors replaced them. Zinin leapt forwards to attack, but the djinni dodged out of the way. "Watch out!" shouted Kalirn. Zinin turned just in time to see a red djinn flying towards him. He moved quickly out of the way, slashing towards it at the same time. Although his slash missed, so did the djinn. Deimos and Phobos materialized next to him, and he Zinin managed to hear the brown djinn mutter, "Shoot, they have djinn. Xulkar didn't tell us that." Phobos flew towards the brown djinn, and they whirled around each other, shooting psynergy and dodging. Deimos went for the red djinn, leaving the blue and purple ones to go after the three boys. Zinin suddenly started grinning, and energy flew from all ten of his fingertips and into the djinni. For several seconds energy streamed from his fingers, and then the djinni lay on the ground, holes burnt threw them. Zinin began panting hard, and collapsed to the ground. Gaolik and Kalirn rushed over, and Gaolik cast ply. "What was that?" he asked, more of a comment than an actual question. Zinin slowly stood up, and dusted himself off. "A voice came into my head, and told me to do that. I don't know what it was."  
  
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Wow, two chapters in one day! 


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